It's Not A Coffee IV Drip, But It's Close

Ben Yu, a Peter Thiel "20 Under 20" fellow, found that typical caffeine-loaded energy drinks left him too jittery to concentrate. Rather than switch to something a little less potent, he decided to work with his dad, a chemist and holder of several drug-delivery patents, to see if there was a better way to get that caffeine hit. By combining the chemical with water and a naturally-occurring amino acid, and putting it into a spray bottle, they came up with Sprayable Energy, which gives a user the equivalent of a quarter-cup's worth of coffee through a single spritz on the skin. Each spritz needs about 15-30 minutes to take effect.

What's the Big Idea?

Most of us caffeine addicts prefer to get our drug the old-fashioned way, but Yu and partner Deven Soni say their product could appeal both to people who are extra-sensitive to caffeine and "quantified self" types who like to track their intake to the milliliter. No long-term studies yet exist on whether absorbing caffeine through the skin is better or worse than drinking it, but Sprayable Energy's development follows FDA guidelines. Yu and Soni have set up an Indiegogo campaign to raise enough money to bring the product to market.